Customer Reviews

Portraits Of American Bikers: Inside Looking Out (The Flash Collection)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Introduction (in part)

By Bill Hayes

Author, Motorcycle Culture Historian, and American Biker



It's been a long time since the mainstream media first discovered the motorcycle club culture--and its seductive appeal. That particular journey has seen our lifestyle "creatively" populated by villains, clowns, cutthroats, buffoons, deviants, sadists, criminals, badasses, and everything in between. But no matter what characters or images the writers, reporters, producers, and directors have devised to represent our lifestyle, the bottom line is that people love it. They fear it. And deep down--in those trembling, vicarious bones--they would give anything to be a part of it.

Anything, for just one ride in an endless pack, hammer-down in the screamer lane of some interstate.

Anything, to walk proudly into a bar or an event with a set of colors on--recognized colors that are not given, but earned, through serious effort, blood, and brotherhood.

Anything, to be able to call a brother at any hour of the day or night when they needed help with anything, and to know that their back is covered.

Anything, to be intimate with the powerful "family life" that is truly enjoyed--and unapologetically embraced--by so few.

But envied or not, this way of life often comes at a high price. A patch on one's back can translate into a titillating target for law enforcement, as well as media. For a variety of reasons--commercial gain, high-profile PR, and political pandering among them--both have dipped to sordid lows in their pursuit of the "biker" essence. Those clowns and buffoons of the old "B" biker movies have increasingly given way to the cutthroats and the criminals. Entire television networks use shows about the presumed inside of the motorcycle clubs as their commercial anchors. Dozens of books and productions glorify the "dirt-digging" adventures of undercover law enforcement infiltrators, turncoats, and snitches.

THIS IS A PORTION OF THE INTRODUCTION (Introduction continued in Portraits of American Bikers: Inside Looking Out)

I ordered this book along with the companion collection, Portraits of American Bikers: Life in the 1960's. I found them both very interesting and well done. I love the vintage feel of the black and white pictures and the candid shots are so telling. I read one review in which the individual was upset about the pictures where men are kissing each other. If you know anything about outlaw biker culture, especially during these years, those photos should make you laugh. If you are looking at them as an outsider, then you are giving the bikers the response that they want to get from kissing each other; that of shock and repulsion. Outlaw bikers in the 1960's used this behavior frequently in order to affirm their individuality and separate themselves from "citizen society". Love the pictures and the overall feel of this book! If you want a candid look into everyday outlaw biker culture during the beginnings of its origin, this will not disappoint you.

I bought the original photo book on the Outlaws mc, " The Bike Riders" by Danny Lyons when it came out in 1968. It was a big influence in one way, for it started the thought process that eventually led me to turn my drawing ability into a tattooing career, even though the tattoos depicted were, for the most part, rotten work. The two volumes of this book take the photographic narrative of the Outlaws AT THIS TIME to a more revealing level. All of the pics were taken by a member ( Lyons was a member too) and stored for posterity by his daughter. The Chicago Outlaws were a homegrown midwest organization until they they fell under the influence of California outlaw bikers, though they are now loath to admit it, their now sworn enemys, the Hells Angels. Through the three books ( Four including the photo book on modern day Outlaws, "One Percent"), you can see the transition--- from embroidered movie cowboy shirts with the Outlaws emblem on the back to denim cutoffs with a one piece Outlaws patch, to the now three piece patch on leather vests. From dressers to choppers, and how strange (to me, at least) back to dressers in the outlaw biker world at large. Both books are a fascinating look into a particular time and place in the Biker world. The photography is clear and sharp, the shots well composed. These books (Volumes 1 & 2) will also appeal to photography enthusiasts and people interested in sub cultures in general. To a biker historian, they are no less than fascinating.